Tom Shicowich of Northumberland County is a teacher at Geisinger’s Fresh Food Farmacy (a partner of the Food Bank) and one of their biggest success stories. The Fresh Food Farmacy (FFF), a food assistance agency that provides moderate to severe diabetics with nutritious food and medical support, was started in 2016. At the time, Tom was one of its six pilot patients. He is excited and thankful as he describes the massive change his health has undergone in the last three years as a result of the FFF.
“Before I joined the Fresh Food Farmacy, my diabetes was out of control. And I really didn’t have any sort of tools to know how to manage it. Through the Fresh Food Farmacy and the food they offer, and the education programs that they also provide, (I’ve been) given the tools to keep my A1C from a 10.9 to a 6.9. I’ve lost more than 60 pounds throughout the program. I’m keeping things under control and managing things much better.”
Now, Tom teaches a six-week class showing other clients how to use the food they receive as medicine to control their diabetes. The course covers the importance of monitoring, meal preparation, and meal planning, as well as dealing with complicated emotions and questions relating to the disease. He also discusses the “plate method” with his students, which covers details on how to eat in a healthy way. To make this difficult task more manageable, the class makes action plans – a technique that has helped Tom in his journey to better health. He explains how this simple goal-setting technique helped him make a whole chicken for the very first time.
“When I made my first whole chicken, I took pictures of it and I showed it to everybody. They were like ‘What’s with you — it’s a piece of chicken.’ And I said, ‘yeah, but I made it!’ It’s something I never did before — all these little accomplishments. That was one of my action plans. That’s another thing that we talked in the classes — something called an action plan. An action plan is basically a small task that you want to do — something that’s achievable. You have a big monster problem? You break it down into smaller chunks and you basically do a small step at a time to get to your goal. You know the old saying, ‘How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!’ So that’s what we do with the actions plans as well…By doing it in smaller steps, you can achieve your final goals and it doesn’t become overwhelming,” Tom smiles.
This article originally appeared in the November 2019 issue of our newsletter, Food For Thought. To read the entire issue, click here..